Birkbeck Study Finds 45% of Doctors Face Sexual Harassment from Patients

New Birkbeck research has found that 45% of doctors have been sexually harassed by patients and recommended that hospitals should implement protective measures such as panic alarms for doctors working alone, those on night shifts and in isolated wards. The research was the first global systematic review and meta-analysis of the issue, published in the Internal Medicine Journal.

The review was led by Dr Caroline Kamau-Mitchell, Reader in Occupational Health at Birkbeck. Whereas previous reviews revealed that violence from patients is common, this is the first review to shed light on doctors’ experiences of being sexually harassed by patients. Key findings:

• Across 22 publications covering 18,803 doctors from a range of specialties (e.g., internal medicine, surgery) and countries, a pooled prevalence of 45.13% have ever been sexually harassed by patients.
• Examples were patients giving physicians unwanted sexual attention, telling sexual jokes, asking them out on dates, sending romantic messages or letters, touching them inappropriately, and having inappropriate reactions or making sexual comments during physical examinations. No studies examined instances of stalking or rape.
• The percentage of male doctors who have been sexually harassed by patients was 34.39%, whereas the percentage of female doctors affected was higher at 52.19%.
• The percentage of doctors affected was highest in the United Kingdom, followed by Canada, Australia, the United States, and other countries.
• The study from the United Kingdom represented doctors in psychiatry whereas data from more specialties were available from other countries such as the USA.
• Some studies found that sexual harassment experiences were associated with doctors feeling physically unsafe, forcing them to resort to locking their office door when alone, installing CCTV or other forms of security at home, or moving jobs.
• Some doctors felt vulnerable when conducting body examinations of patients who were sexually harassing them.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises workplace sexual harassment as an occupational hazard in medicine, but it has hitherto lacked information about the prevalence of patient-to-doctor sexual harassment therefore this new research will be helpful.

Dr Caroline Kamau-Mitchell said, “Our review was inspired by reading concerning news reports about doctors who were stalked or harassed by their patients, and seeing their upsetting accounts of not being listened to or believed by those who should have been protecting them. It led me to discover that there is very little research in this area. I recommend that hospitals and clinics take these findings seriously, giving doctors who work in isolated wards, on night shifts, or alone, protections such as CCTV and panic alarms. These are some of the measures recommended by the World Health Organization, although careful thought is needed around use of CCTV to protect the confidentiality of innocent patients.”